Inside Outdoor
Providing news and analysis on the Australian outdoor media industry
August 2010
1 in 8 Pounds spent outdoor
now digital
According to new figures released from the UK’s Outdoor
Advertising Association (OAA) in the three months to the end of
June, advertisers spent GBP 211.5 million on outdoor advertising,
up from GBP 179.6 million in the same period in 2009 – better
still an incredibly impressive 79.1% rise in digital outdoor revenue
helped contribute to the growth.
Digital outdoor revenue in the UK was GBP 27.2 million during
the three months to 30 June. Mike Baker, the chief executive of
the OAA said, “1 in 8 pounds spent on outdoor is now spent on
digital.” Spend on digital screens has now reached 12.8% of the
total outdoor spend.
Generally spend on outdoor for the first six months of 2010 is
up 16.2%, compared with 2009. Ad categories contributing to
the growth included retail, cars, food, finance and computers and
75% of the top 100 advertisers increased their spend on outdoor,
according to Nielsen figures.
Mike added, “Confidence is coming back into the market and
outdoor delivers high frequency and coverage while offering
campaigns which are quite targeted. The growth has been in
specials, digital and large format.”
US study finds digital
billboards safe
This month the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA)
released a fifth study that found digital billboards don’t cause
accidents. The latest study, conducted by Philadelphia-based Tantala
Associates, analysed eight years of accident records in Reading,
Pennsylvania that were in proximity to 26 digital billboards on state
and local roads.
Previous studies in Cleveland, Ohio; Rochester, Minnesota; and
Albuquerque, New Mexico all came to the same conclusion. There
is no significant statistical correlation between traffic accidents
and digital billboards. Combined, the five studies in four locations
examined more than 100,000 traffic accidents.
“At some point, the evidence just starts to become overwhelming,”
said Nancy Fletcher, president and CEO of the OAAA.
Despite the studies, some municipalities are still banning or limiting
the build out of digital billboards, such as Denver, Los Angeles and
St. Louis. There are currently about 2,000 digital billboards in the US.
The face of OOH advertising is
changing – literally
Digital technology is sweeping the world and this technology is
transforming this long-established medium into something far
more interactive and engaging for consumers.
The market leaders are of course the USA where the market has
grown 10 fold from 200 digital billboards in 2005 to 2000 in 2010.
It is estimated that the USA has close to 450,000 billboards so
even though the growth percentage is huge, digital billboards only
make up a small portion of the total inventory.
Australia is a bit behind the market leaders in the mass rollout of
digital signs. Currently, digital billboards are permitted in Victoria
only, where there are about six sites available. This is largely due
to the inflexibility of the planning legislation in most Australian
States which makes it almost impossible for the industry to
introduce innovative technology when it becomes available.
Government regulators hold concerns about the capacity for these
signs to distract drivers, however these views are generally not
supported by the available research.
But this is not to say that Australia has been left behind in the
great digital dash. Place-based digital signage is really taking off.
In smaller format Out-of-Home advertising such as the retail
environment, advancements in 3D TV, lithographic TV and other
technologies means that digital Out-of-Home solutions are more
readily available. And the real growth we see utilising smart
technology is in small format OOH such as the retail environment
where it is much easier and more financially viable to explore
digital technologies. So where do we go from here?
As an industry, we are constantly responding, adapting and
developing new outdoor media formats in response to the
advertisers’ need to capture the attention of consumers spending
fewer hours at home and more time on the road.
These are the next steps for digital signage in Australia from the
OMA’s perspective.
• Continue to advocate for digital billboards.
• Current review of state planning legislation in NSW is likely to
permit digital billboards.
– Static displays only.
– Message dwell time the sticking point.
– Other Australian States are likely to follow suit provided that
the operation of these signs are legislated.
– Continue to advocate for planning legislation to allow more
innovative signage technology.
Inside Outdoor
OMA in the Community
NSW Police Force Missing
Persons Week
An outdoor media campaign for Missing Persons Week,
donated by the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) was
launched on 1 August at NSW Police Force headquarters.
The OMA supported NSW Police Force and National Missing
Persons Week (NMPW), which ran 1–7 August 2010, for the
second year, with a $120,000 campaign.
As a result of the outdoor media campaign focusing upon
missing girl Rista Chanthavizay, police have received two reports
to Crime Stoppers of sightings of Rista. Each report is considered
relevant and is being investigated by detectives.
OMA CEO Charmaine Moldrich said the organisation was proud
to support the cause. “We know that outdoor advertising is a
highly visible medium that reaches people in their communities
and our hope is that the message is seen by someone who can
help provide the information needed to find Rista,” she said.
A summary of this year’s plea and some outstanding missing
persons cases can be found here.
OMA Members support
World Cup bid
Adshel, APN Outdoor, JCDecaux, Cactus Imaging and Brite
recently showed their united support for our nation’s bid to
host the FIFA World Cup. The companies provided more than
$700,000 of contra to showcase the bid’s new advertising
campaign ‘FIFA, pass us the ball and Come Play! in 2022’,
on key sites across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The eye catching creative executions were designed to
engage, create awareness and capture the attention of the
Australian community along with the delegation of FIFA
inspectors, who recently visited our shores 26–28 July to
examine the credentials of Australia’s Bid to host the FIFA
World Cup™ in 2022.
Upcoming events
Outdoor Awards
Pakistan floods
The OMA is working with Guy Chenery of Overseas Disaster
Resources organisation, and his partner Pakistan Australia
Association, to send pallets of skins to the people affected
by the devastating Pakistan floods, which have been
described as even worse than the Boxing Day Tsunami of
2006, with four million people left homeless.
Guy is sending up to 10 container loads of relief
equipment which will include used billboard skins to
provide shelter to those affected. OMA Members are
providing skins and EYE and oOh!media have each
contributed to the container freight costs.
The Outdoor Awards
will be held in
Sydney on Thursday
9 September 2010,
hosted by comedian
Kitty Flanagan.
Creatives from the
50 agencies across
Australia who
entered have been
invited to attend.
Please contact the
OMA for more information on [email protected]
ROI Research Breakfasts
Recent econometrics research regarding Out-of-Home ROI
will be presented to clients and media agencies at a breakfast
presentation in Melbourne and Sydney in September.
Melbourne – Thurs 16 September 2010 at Melbourne Museum
Sydney – Tues 21 September 2010 at the Museum of Sydney
Please contact the OMA for more information on [email protected]
Inside Outdoor
2009 Young Planner
Scholarship winner update
Michelle Willemse, an urban planner working at Brisbane City
Council, travelled to the USA in June and July 2010 on the
PIA/OMA Young Planners Scholarship to research the integration
of outdoor advertising into the environment through the use of
vegetation and other natural measures. Here is an update from
her travels:
I met with CEOs, directors and high level staff of various peak
organisations and prominent companies, including the Outdoor
Advertising Association of America, the Federal Highway
Administration, the American Planning Association, Scenic
America (the anti-outdoor advertising organisation in America),
the California Department of Transportation, and Clear Channel
and Van Wagner advertising companies. By talking to a diversity of
regulators, designers, marketers and advertisers, I learnt of the ins
and outs of the outdoor advertising industry, its regulatory issues
and its potential for something greater than it currently is.
This trip has shown me that outdoor advertising has the
potential to extend beyond solely the interests of the advertiser.
For instance, in New York City I learnt how the backs of billboards
could potentially be used as part of rooftop gardens and urban
greenery. In Pittsburgh, Vancouver and Seattle I saw how green
walls could promote a company’s “natural” or “eco-friendly”
image, while producing a level of energy savings for the buildings
they are installed on. In Los Angeles I was shown highway
“floralscapes” – where Toyota displays floral car images in return
for landscaping and maintaining sections of California’s highways.
And in San Francisco I learnt about a “living” bus shelter with
rooftop vegetation that was created with support from the Mayor’s
Office to promote public transport patronage, urban greenery
and green roofs on a larger scale. In all of these instances, the
advertising company and/or marketing agency had to work with
the government in achieving the desired outcome. It was a learning
process for all parties involved (for many it was the first time that
something of this nature had been done), and my discussions with
them generated even more creative ideas. I heard desires for more
beautiful advertisements that blur the line between advertisement
and public art, for innovative and fun advertisement structures
such as painters’ easels
and picture frames
that stimulate public
imagination, and of the
potential for making
transportable green wall
displays that fit into bus
shelter ad spaces as
desired.
From my discussions, it
doesn’t seem implausible
that well-designed and
well-placed outdoor
advertisements could
actually be ecologically,
aesthetically or
fiscally beneficial for
communities. Through
innovative public-private
partnerships, outdoor
advertising may have
the potential to play
an improved role in
landscape beautification,
public art and sponsorship
of public areas and
infrastructure needed in a
PNC Bank, Pennsylvania
vibrant, modern city.
Toyota Prius Floralscape, California
Green bus shelter, San Francisco
Australian Entertainment and
Media outlook 2010–2014
Price Waterhouse Coopers this month released its Outlook
report on Australian Entertainment and Media for 2010–2014.
The global advertising market is expected to grow from $464
billion in 2009 to $587 billion in 2014, increasing on average
by 4.8 percent per annum. Locally, advertising spending is
expected to reach $14.2 billion by 2014, a compound growth
rate of 5.3 percent.
Globally, the Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising market will grow
by 4.5% on a compound annual basis from $30.9 billion in
2009 to $38.4 billion in 2014. This means the expansion in
OOH advertising will outpace the growth in advertising spend as
a whole during the forecast period. As a result OOH will gain a
larger share of overall global advertising. Growth will be driven
by rising penetration of digital billboards that can show multiple
advertisements on the same display and improved out-of-home
audience measurement.
The expansion of captive video networks will also fuel growth
as OOH can reach people in areas inaccessible to most other
media. OOH also goes hand-in-hand with increased mobile
advertising spend as advertisers seek media to reach people
away from home and when they are shopping. Improved
audience measurement systems make it easier for advertisers
to compare OOH with other media, in the process encouraging
advertisers to incorporate OOH in the overall advertising
campaigns, thus increasing spending in the medium.
In 2009 Australia’s OOH market contracted for the first time in
seven years, with revenues falling 11.9% from $454 million to
$400 million. In Australia, the Out-of-Home market will grow at
a 3.6 percent annual rate to reach $478 million in 2014.
Inside Outdoor
Out There
Local
Killers Twitter updates feature on JCDecaux digital network
JCDecaux recently launched a media first featuring live and
immediate twitter updates on their digital network at Southern
Cross Station in Melbourne. To promote Ashton Kutcher’s new
film Killers, JCDecaux showcased live tweets to keep Ashton’s
fans abreast of what he was up to during his promotional visit to
Australia. Passersby were able to view the social media updates
on one large 4 x 3 metre screen plus six smaller screens.
International
Nokia: World’s Biggest Signpost
In London, Nokia recently used a digital panel and a crane to
promote the use of mobile maps. Passersby were encouraged to
text a live sign hoisted 50 metres above street level with examples
of their favourite places to visit. The arrow then swivelled round to
point out the direction and distance to that location. A video of the
sign in action can be viewed here.
Minority Report-style billboards to target consumers
IBM researchers are working on technology which will lead to
consumers being shown advertisements that reflect their personal
interests. The technology is similar to that seen in the science
fiction film Minority Report in which Tom Cruise’s character is
confronted with digital signs that call out his name as he walks
through a shopping mall – “John Anderton, you could use a
Guinness right about now!”
IBM’s system works by using RFID chips being incorporated
into credit cards and mobile phones which are encoded with
information relating to the individual. A digital advertising billboard
identifies a passing person and shows an advertisement relating to
their shopping habits and personal preferences.
NEC in Japan has already developed a billboard capable of
identifying a shopper’s age and gender by using basic facial
recognition software and cameras. Products more accurately
suited to them are offered products as they walk by the billboard.
Advertisers believe the new technology will help in reducing
costs passed onto the consumer by reducing less targeted
advertising.
Digital at world’s busiest train station
Shinjuku Station in Tokyo has started a one-year digital
Out-of-Home trial. The ‘Digital Signage Promotion Project’
(DSPP) was launched by a consortium of 11 Japanese transport
operators. The underground station is the world’s busiest train
station with 3.5 million people using it on an average day.
Inside Outdoor